MEGHAN AND HARRY. The sovereign died at Balmoral Castle on Thursday, a death announced in the evening. Prince Harry had been in Europe since the beginning of the week to participate in several charity events with Meghan Markle, his wife and had visited Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday afternoon.
[Mis à jour le 8 septembre 2022 à 21h00] Buckingham Palace confirmed the death of Queen Elizabeth II this Thursday 8 at the end of the day. Prince Harry had been in Europe with his wife Meghan Markle since the beginning of the week for a series of charity events. The Duke of Sussex had to go urgently to the castle of Balmoral, in Scotland, this Thursday, September 8 afternoon: the doctors of Queen Elizabeth II had alerted to the deterioration of his state of health at midday.
In 2018, Queen Elizabeth authorized Prince Harry to marry a young American divorcee, Meghan Markle. On this subject, the Duke of Sussex recently confided to Figaro: “She managed to make the family evolve with her time. It is incredibly important. You cannot stay stuck in the past when everything changes around you. However, the couple ended up moving away from the Crown, and thereby from strict protocol and the tabloids: in January 2020, Meghan and Harry announced their departure for North America. An unprecedented break in Buckingham.
Since then, relations between Prince Harry and the royal family were not in good shape. Settled in California for several years, the couple was in Europe when the news of the degraded state of health of Queen Elizabeth II fell on Thursday, September 8. In a twitter post posted on the British Royal Family’s account at midday, doctors at Buckingham Palace said they were “concerned” about the health of the 96-year-old monarch. A very unusual communication that sounded like a serious alert across the Channel.
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Meghan Markle stayed in London
If Prince Charles and Prince William immediately let it be known that they were going to the queen’s bedside, installed in her residence at Balmoral in Scotland, Meghan, she finally stayed in London. If it was envisaged that she join Harry in Scotland at a later date, the Duchess of Sussex had for the time being decided not to attend the WellChild awards, a charity event initially planned in her agenda. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who were already in the UK for a series of charity events, were originally due to travel to Balmoral separately from other members of the Royal Family. Nevertheless, they were “in coordination” with the plans of other family members, according to information from Reuters and British agency PA Media.
So far in any case, no meeting with the royal family was on the couple’s program during their stay on the continent and in the United Kingdom, which several British titles did not fail to recall. Not even with the queen, whom the couple allegedly “ignored” according to some newspapers.
Meghan and Harry in Germany at the time of the Buckingham alert
Meghan and Harry arrived at Frogmore Cottage on September 3, in Windsor, to go a few days later to the One Young World Summit, an annual summit bringing together 190 international leaders in Manchester, in the north of the country, and from which Meghan Markle left engaging. For this first stage in England, no meeting with William and Kate or with Charles and Camilla has only been mentioned.
On Tuesday, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle then traveled to Germany, to Düsseldorf this time, for the launch of the Invictus Games 2023, a sports competition for injured war veterans and people with disabilities of which Harry has been the patron since many years. This Thursday, the couple was still in Germany when the alert on the health of the Queen of England was given. He was to return to London, according to the official program, for the WellChild Awards ceremony, an organization providing care to children with serious illnesses. Sean Coughlan, correspondent following the royal family for the BBChad indicated in the afternoon that “the Sussexes” should “give up” this charity event.
In January 2020, via Instagram, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had caused an earthquake by expressing their desire to put an end to their duties with regard to the royal family and their intention to withdraw from it. They also wanted to gain financial independence and live between North America and England. The affair then caused a stir, the English tabloid press very quickly evoking a “Megxit”, in reference to Brexit which was still upsetting the country. The couple will retain the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but renounce the predicate of royal highnesses. They will also lose their right to police protection and will then have to reimburse the taxpayer for the £2.4million spent on refurbishing Frogmore Cottage, the mansion they were intended to reside in.
From March 2020, Harry and Meghan settled with their son Archie in Beverly Hills and then in Montecito, California. Financially independent of the British crown, they have since embarked on a series of media activities in order to finance their lifestyle and the devices necessary for their security. The couple notably signed a multi-year contract, estimated at 100 million dollars, in order to produce series, documentaries and programs for children. They now live with their two children, Archie and Lilibeth, in the Santa Barbara neighborhood, northwest of Los Angeles..
Tensions between the couple and the royal family have fueled speculation for several years. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey on the CBS channel in March 2021, Meghan Markle returned to a rumor that she had made Kate Middleton, her sister-in-law, cry during her wedding for a disagreement over the dresses of the bridesmaids. honor. The American then denied and assured that it was “the opposite” that had happened. “She acknowledged what happened and apologized, she gave me flowers and sent me a letter asking for forgiveness.”
Meghan Markle has repeatedly explained that she has no hard feelings and called the Duchess of Cambridge a “good person”. Prince Harry’s wife also insisted on several occasions to assure her sympathy for Elizabeth II. In her 2021 interview, she had sent a message to the sovereign, to make her understand that she had nothing to reproach her for: “There is the family, and then there are the people who run the institution, they are two separate things and it is important to be able to compartmentalize them because the queen, for example, has always been extraordinary with me”, she had declared in front of Oprah Winfrey. Harry didn’t have the slightest reproach for his grandmother either. “I have deep respect for her. She is my Colonel-in-Chief. She will remain so,” he said.
For the past week, the tabloids have nevertheless been making their feast on Meghan and Harry’s stay in the United Kingdom, stressing that no visit with other members of the royal family was on the program. One of those tabloids, The Express, assured Wednesday that the couple had even gone so far as to “snub” Elizabeth II, refusing to visit her after ignoring an invitation from Prince Charles. Katie Nicholl, royal columnist at Vanity Fair, for her part assured television that the queen had invited the couple twice, without response.
Harry has always supported his wife, at the heart of several controversies since she tried to integrate the House of Windsor. On the other hand, he never hid that their departure and their choice to live on the other side of the Atlantic had been accelerated by their fear of having to endure the unspoken for years. Harry insisted on his fear that “history will repeat itself”, in reference to the death of his mother. “I had three conversations with my grandmother, and two conversations with my father before he stopped taking my calls”, he had justified himself, denying having broken the dialogue of himself with his family.
“I was stuck in a system, as are my father and my brother as well. And I have a lot of compassion for that”, he however nuanced. The exchanges however resumed between the prince and his father, Harry having assured: “I will always love him” but recognizing then that it would take time and work to improve relations.
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Relations between Diana and Charles’ two sons, William and Harry, have also taken a stormy turn in recent years. If Harry was content to say that he and his brother had followed “different trajectories”, he would blame his brother for not having supported him enough when his couple needed it. William, like his father Prince Charles, for his part was “saddened” by the behavior and media messages of Harry and Meghan. A palace source recently told the Mirror that there was “a distinct feeling inside the camp that there must be a better way to solve problems by coming together, rather than the nuclear decision that resulted in this let it all be discussed so publicly and for no reason.”
While the royal family recently seemed to reunite around the queen, the British press recalled that Harry and William had not really spoken for over a year, two joint appearances having taken place without any real exchange between the two men. . The unpacking seemingly continuing around Meghan and Harry so far did not seem to herald any warming in their relationship. Especially since for some gossip, the unpacking in question would be powered by the couple himself. In mid-July 2022, a shocking book by Tom Bower “Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors”, returning to Meghan and Harry’s break with the royal family, had made headlines for several days. And the rest is coming soon (at the end of 2022 or in 2023) since the biographer of the Sussex couple would in turn prepare a book filled with “exclusive revelations”.